Looking to combine beauty and productivity via rail route between these three cities. (Mid-June travel and roughly 5 days in each city). Lucerne is our middle stop. I seek beauty, and am willing to spend a full DAY (not two) traveling to or from Lucerne in order to see the storied Swiss Alps scenery. But I am struggling to know which routes to take in which direction. If we lollygag our way TO Lucerne, then I’d want something more efficient to Milan, as an example. We end our travel with a train (also open to suggestions on this leg) from Milan to Paris, but I do expect we might take this train overnight so miss any scenery. I welcome budget ideas, of course. But we have saved up for this trip, so don’t look to sacrifice the sights for penny pinching. Looks like Golden Pass from France may be a possibility? Or the Bernina Express out of Switzerland? Thanks ALL in advance!
Posted by
Paris
7300 posts
To go from Luzern to Milan, an easy-and-scenic option would be the Gotthard Panorama Express, a boat-train combo that gets you to Lugano over the scenic Gotthard railway. From Lugano, there are frequent regional trains to Milan.
A faster option, skipping the boat part, would be to take one of the two-hourly "Treno Gottardo" trains to Cadenazzo (they also use the scenic Gotthard railway instead of the uninteresting base tunnel), and take a train to Milan from there.
To go from Paris to Luzern, it is hard to think of a scenic route without doubling or tripling the journey time. I would just go the usual Paris-Basel-Luzern way.
Posted by
Huntsville, AL, USA
8319 posts
I may travel a scenic train route from Paris to Milan. But my return trip will be in the air on EasyJet--cheap.
Posted by
Ontario, Canada
5429 posts
Ditto what David said. Cheap, easy, fast flight from Milan to Paris.
Posted by
Paris
7300 posts
I didn't catch the Milan-Paris bit in my first reply.
There is no overnight train anymore.
I like the daytime train (I prefer to avoid flying when the alternative is reasonable) but it's a solid 7+ hours and it is not that scenic - it crosses what is probably one of the least interesting valleys of the Alps.
The plane from Linate to Orly saves at least 3 hours. Malpensa and CDG are less convenient.